1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dough piece rolled up with separator sheet, and a method and device for preparing these.
2) Discussion of the Prior Art
Dough pieces rolled up with a separator sheet (for instance bakery paper or a foil) are used as a basis for home made pizzas and like products. A roll of a dough piece in a separator sheet is a compact way of storing, packaging and selling the dough, and it has the advantage that the dough is covered with paper on both sides, so that it does not stick together and stays fresh longer than a flat dough piece with only one paper, or even without paper. In order to use the prepared product, the paper is unrolled, and—in case of a pizza—provided with a topping, to be baked on the separator sheet afterwards. When a foil is used, the dough may be baked without the separator sheet.
Dough pieces rolled up with separator sheet are known in general, and so are methods and devices to prepare them. One example according to the art uses a discontinued process, in which a conveyor with dough pieces is stopped from time to time, to roll dough pieces and baking paper in a direction perpendicular to their direction of conveyance. This method has the disadvantage to be slow, and furthermore, there is a risk that the dough pieces rolled up with a separator sheet unroll after being released from the location where they are rolled.
A method for rolling dough pieces continuously is known from the European patent EP 0 204 490. Herein, a roll of dough is made by feeding a dough piece between two conveyors that are operated in opposite directions is proposed. However, this method is not suitable for rolling dough on a separator sheet, since the paper tends to move straight on instead of rolling up.
It is a goal of the present invention to propose a method and device for rolling up a dough piece that lacks the aforementioned disadvantages, and to propose an improved dough piece rolled up with a separator sheet.